Europe and her regions - in particular the regions of East and Central Europe - witness tremendous change in all spheres of life. Although there is no order without border, borders are in a process of functional differentiation, both at the sub- and supra-national level. There are many more borders becoming, however, less consequential, no longer exclusive, but inclusive. All the challenges from globalisation, fragmentation, enlargement or integration not only surpass the potential of single regions or even nations, but need normative guide-lines and consistent incentive structures. In short: institutions do matter! But, what kind of institutions, at what level and designed for what purpose? This book with its multi-disciplinary approach from the perspective of international and constitutional law as well as economics tries to give answers to the prospective problems of managing complexity and flexibility for a future post-national Europe of regions.

Contents: Renate Kicker / Joseph Marko / Michael Steiner: Preface - Waltraud Klasnic: Foreword - Renate Kicker: The Alps Adriatic
Working Community: Practice and Legal Aspects - Klaus Unterholzner: Recent Developments within the Council of Europe - Bojko
Bucar: The Emergence of International (Legal) Obligations between Subnational Territorial Units - Illusion or Reality? - Roberto
Toniatti: How Soft Is and Ought to Be the Law of Interregional Transborder Cooperation? - Noralv Veggeland: Regional Governance,
Euro-Regions, Flexibility, Power and Rights - Horst Eisel: Schengen: New Borders in the Alpine and Adriatic Region? - Joseph
Marko: Beyond the Nation-state: Problems of Regionalisation in Western and East Central Europe - Thomas Christiansen: Borders
and Territorial Governance in the New Europe - Emil Kirchner: The Development and Importance of Interregional Cooperation
in Central European States - Reinhard Rack and Judith Schwarzbauer: Between East and West: The Pre-Accession Strategy in the
Heart of Europe - Josip Kregar: Democratization of Transitional Societies. Internal Processes and Regional Context - Michael
Steiner: Changing Borders, Extending Markets and the Feeling of «Angst» - Riccardo Cappellin: Interregional Networking and
the Principle of Subsidiarity in European Regional Policy - Erich Thöni: Is there a European Institutional Integration Trap?
- Jolanta Dziembowska-Kowalska and Jan Kowalski: Institutional Factors in Transition of a Regional Economy: The Case of the
Border Province of Gorzow in Western Poland - Gyula Horvath: Policy Legislation on Cross-Border Co-operation - Erhard Busek:
New Forms of Cooperation in the Alps-Adria Region?